Politics

  Moscow/ AFP A Ukrainian pilot released from a Russian prison in May was in Moscow on Wednesday to throw her support behind two compatriots jailed in Russia, her lawyer said. This is the first time Nadiya Savchenko, who was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in absentia during her detention, has visited since her release in a prisoner swap. Savchenko ...

Calais / AFP Workers were set to begin demolishing the notorious Calais “Jungle” camp on Tuesday as a second batch of migrants boarded buses under a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement. More than 1,900 left the slum on Monday, ahead of work to tear down the makeshift shelters and eateries in the camp that has become a symbol of ...

  Erfurt / AFP German police on Tuesday raided apartments across five states in a probe against 14 Chechen asylum seekers over suspected financing of terrorist groups and links to the IS organisation. The raids were part of a running investigation which began last year into a 28-year-old Russian of Chechen origin who is suspected of “preparing an act of ...

  Kampala / AFP Two Ugandans were arrested outside the US Embassy in Kampala on Tuesday morning while taking part in a demonstration of support for US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Carrying placards, one emblazoned with the slogan “A vote for Trump is a vote against African dictatorship!”, the two men attempted to enter the US embassy grounds in the ...

  Tokyo / AFP President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged foreign businesses in the Philippines worried about his deadly drug war to “pack up and leave”, as he launched another anti-American tirade before flying to Japan to attract investments. Duterte voiced outrage at comments made the previous day by the top US envoy to Asia that his fiery rhetoric and crime ...

  Brussels / AFP NATO’s commitment to defend all allies against any threat is “unconditional” and irrespective of whether they pay their dues, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. Asked his view of remarks by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that, should he win, US commitment would depend on members keeping up with their contributions, Stoltenberg stressed first ...

  Gold Coast / AFP Two women and two men were killed at a theme park on Australia’s popular Gold Coast on Tuesday, police said, with witnesses describing how “everyone was screaming” after a raft apparently flipped on a water ride. Queensland police said the four victims died on the Thunder River Rapids ride at the Dreamworld park, as Prime Minister ...

  Colombo/ AFP Sri Lankans went on strike across the island’s north on Tuesday as anger mounted over the police killing of two Tamil university students at a checkpoint. Shops, banks and other offices were closed across the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula and public transport was halted in protest against the shootings last week. “The entire province is paralysed by the ...

  Quetta / AFP Pakistan on Tuesday mourned the killing of at least 61 people in a brutal gun and suicide bomb assault on a police academy, the deadliest attack on a security installation in the country’s history. Three gunmen burst into the sprawling academy in the southwest, targeting sleeping quarters home to some 700 recruits in a strike that sent ...

  Kabul / AFP The Afghan Taliban have released aerial footage of a suicide car bombing in southern Helmand province, marking the first time the media-savvy militant group has used a drone to record an attack. The 23-minute video shows a suicide bomber ramming a Humvee into a military base in volatile Nawa district, triggering a mushroom cloud of flames and ...